Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

Replay Gain

2007-08-13T15:43:27Z

Febs: /* Portable devices */

'''Replay Gain''' is the name of a technique invented to achieve the same playback volume of audio files. It specifies the reference level of 89dB and an algorithm to measure the '''perceived''' loudness of audio data.

Replay Gain is different from [[Normalization|peak normalization]]. In peak normalization, you merely ensure that the peak amplitude reaches a certain level. This does not ensure equal loudness. The Replay Gain technique measures the ''effective power'' (i.e. taking RMS after an ''Equal Loudness contour'') of the waveform, and amplifies the waveform accordingly. The result is that Replay Gained waveforms are usually more uniformly amplified that peak-normalized waveforms.

== Implementations ==
There are different Replay Gain implementations, each with its own uses and strength. Most of them use [[metadata]] to indicate the level of the volume change (Volume is adjusted on playback; needs player/decoder support) others modify the audio data itself. Generally it is recommended to use an implementation which uses the metadata and does not touch the audio itself.

In a metadata based solution, information on both types of Replay Gain can be stored, and the desired playback effect can be switched back and forth in the appropriate player. However, if the audio data is permanently modified, only one type of Replay Gain can be chosen. Furthermore, if the audio data is modified, you may not be able to restore the original data, especially if the Replay Gain technique produces a negative amplification.

Replay Gain has significant advantages over normalizing. It allows the loudness of a song to be consistant over an entire collection of audio, similar to (but more accurate than) RMS normalizing (this is called 'Track Gain', or 'Radio Gain' in earlier parlance). However, it also allows the loudness of an album to be consistant over a entire music collection, allowing the dynamics of album to remain (This is called 'Album Gain', or 'Audiophile Gain' in earlier parlance). This is usually very important in classical CDs, as there may be quiet segments and loud segments written into different tracks.

=== MP3Gain ===
[[MP3Gain]] is an implementation of Replay Gain. It either modifies target data reversibly, or attaches metadata.

* Format: [[MP3]]
* Method: Audio / Meta
* Limitations: Limited to 1.5dB steps mode, may become irreversible
* http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

=== [[LAME]] ===
* Method: Header ([http://gabriel.mp3-tech.org/mp3infotag.html mp3infotag])
* Notes:
** Tags added during encoding; not supported by any player yet; Track Gain only
** Replay Gaining MP3's are usually done using MP3Gain (see [[Replay Gain#MP3Gain|above]]) or [[Replay Gain#foobar2000 Replay Gain scanner|foobar2000]]
* http://lame.sourceforge.net/

=== [[Musepack]] Replay Gain ===
* Method: Header (similar to Meta data method)
* Notes: Replay Gain values are stored in the header and Replay Gain is part of the Musepack specifications; therefore any Musepack decoder that does not support Replay Gain can be considered broken.
* http://rarewares.org/mpc.html

=== VorbisGain ===
* Format: (Ogg) [[Vorbis]]
* Method: Meta (in [[Vorbis comment]])
* http://www.sjeng.org/vorbisgain.html
** new compiles of VorbisGain at [http://www.rarewares.org/ogg.html www.rarewares.org]
:'''''Note:''' Andavari has provided a very useful script to integrate VorbisGain, which is a CLI tool, into Windows Explorer. Please (Ogg) [[Vorbis#Replay Gain|check this section]].

=== FLAC / METAFLAC ===
* Format: [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]]
* Method: Meta (in [[Vorbis comment]])
* http://flac.sf.net

=== WavPack / WVGAIN ===
* Format: [[WavPack]]
* Method: Meta (in [[APEv2]] tag)
* http://www.wavpack.com

=== Wavegain ===
* Format: waveform
* Method: Audio
* Limitations: Irreversible
* http://www.rarewares.org/files/others/wavegain.zip

=== [[foobar2000]] Replay Gain scanner ===
* Format:
** [[MP3]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] or [[ID3v2]] tags.
** [[Musepack]]: Values written to header.
** (Ogg) [[Vorbis]]: Values written to [[Vorbis comment]].
** [[WavPack]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] tags.
** [[AAC]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] tags.
** [[MP4]]: Uses its own iTunes-compatible tagging system (though iTunes does not support Replay Gain).
** [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]]: Values written to [[Vorbis comment]].
** [[APE]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] tags.
** Modules ([[MOD]] etc.): Optionally saved into [[APEv2]] tags; otherwise the foobar2000 database is used.
** All other formats are supported but the Replay Gain values are saved to the foobar2000 database.

* You can also choose to only have the Replay Gain values saved in the foobar2000 database and leave the files untouched.

* http://foobar2000.org

=== [[MediaMonkey]] ===
* Format:
** [[MP3]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] or [[ID3v2]] tags.
** (Ogg) [[Vorbis]]: Values written to [[Vorbis comment]].
** [[WMA]]: Values stored in MediaMonkey's MDB database.
** [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]]: Values written to [[Vorbis comment]].
** [[APE]]: Values written to [[APEv2]] tags.
** [[WAV]]: Values stored in MediaMonkey's MDB database.
* In addition to tags, all Replay Gain values are also stored in MediaMonkey's MDB database
* Does not support Album/Audiophile Replay Gain
* Also capable of (irreversibly) changing the volume of MP3 tracks, similar to [[MP3Gain]]
* http://www.mediamonkey.com

== Players support ==
Replay Gain being present in the specs of FLAC, Musepack, and APE formats, any player that support those formats usually support Replay Gain.

The situation with MP3 is rather different, as it was not part of the MP3 specs. The APEv2 tags metadata implementation is somewhat becoming the de-facto standard.

=== Windows ===
* [[Foobar2000]] supports Replay Gain in all possible aspects.
* [[Winamp]]
** MP3 Replay Gain support with adequate plugins (e.g. [http://otachan.com/in_!mpg123.html Otachan's in_!mpg123] - if you can't read japanese, you can find details [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=18530 in this thread])
** (Ogg) [[Vorbis]] Replay Gain support
* [[MediaMonkey]] supports track Replay Gain only
* [[XMPlay]] recently implemented Replay Gain

''...and probably others.''

=== Linux ===
* [[XMMS]]. Reads Replay Gain from [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], [[Musepack]], (Ogg) [[Vorbis]] ..
:For [[MP3]], use the CVS version of the [http://xmms-mad.sourceforge.net/ xmms-mad] mp3 plugin (it's not yet released as binary, furthermore not available in distribs' versions for now. Meanwhile binaries are available here: [http://perso.crans.org/~krempp/xmms-mad/ custom binaries])
* [[amarok]]. By using the amarok-script [http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=26073 Replay Gain]
:And possibly others, since [http://developer.kde.org/~wheeler/taglib.html TagLib] added support for [[APEv2]] tags in [[MP3]] files, players using this library (like [[amaroK]] and [[JuK]]) might support that kind of Replay Gain tags in the near future.
* [http://www.sacredchao.net/quodlibet Quod Libet] reads Replay Gain from (Ogg) [[Vorbis]], [[MP3]], [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], and [[Musepack]].
:Requires support to be enabled (via the appropriate python bindings and libraries) for the above formats. Does not support Replay Gain values stored in [[APEv2]] tags in [[MP3]]s. Replay Gain values are stored in RVA2 id3v2.4 frames. See the [http://www.sacredchao.net/quodlibet/wiki/Development/ID3Notes Quod Libet RVA2 / Replay Gain notes].
* [http://www.musicpd.org/ Music Player Daemon] (MPD) reads Replay Gain from (Ogg) [[Vorbis]], [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], and [[Musepack]].
:Foobar2000 style TXXX frames in [[MP3]]s are also supported in the latest development releases.

=== Portable devices ===
Current development builds of [http://www.rockbox.org/ Rockbox] support Replay Gain for some encoder formats. This is a rapidly evolving feature. Rockbox runs on a variety of portable players, including iRiver H100, H300 and H10 series; iPod 3rd gen, 4th gen (grayscale and color), 5th/5.5th gen video, 1st gen Nano and Mini 1st/2nd gen (Nano 2nd gen is not supported); Cowon iAudio X5 (including X5V and X5L)and M5 (including M5L); Toshiba Gigabeat X and F series (the S model is not supported); and SanDisk: Sansa E200 series (the R models are not supported).

There are no other portable players known to support Replay Gain.

The iPod features ''Soundcheck'', which seems to produce roughly the same normalization gains as Replay Gain, but doesn't provide an Album Gain.

=== Hi-Fi ===
Slim Devices a company owened by Logitech Inc, supports Replay Gain on both of their hi-end audiophile players, known as the [[Slim Devices Transporter|Transporter]] and the [[Slim Devices Squeezebox|Squeezebox]].

== External links ==
* [http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org Original Replay Gain website]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_Gain Replay Gain] at Wikipedia
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/Replay-Gain.html Replay Gain using Foobar 2000] (how-to).

[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Metadata]]

Rockbox

2006-11-16T15:34:48Z

Febs: /* Apple devices */

{{featured}}
[[Image:Rockboxlogo.png|right]]

'''Rockbox''' is a [[GPL]]-compliant [[open source]] operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2002 and was first implemented on the [[Archos]] Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.

Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.

Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.

==Archos devices==

Rockbox was first designed for the Archos series of [[MP3]] players and player/recorders. These devices have relatively weak main CPUs and instead offload music playback to dedicated hardware MP3 decoding chips. Rockbox, therefore, was unable to significantly alter playback capabilities. Instead, it offered a greatly improved user interface and added plugin functionality not present in the factory firmware.

Rockbox is capable of being permanently flashed into flash memory on the Archos devices, making it a literal firmware replacement.

==iRiver devices==

===H1xx/H3xx===
Beginning in late 2004, an effort began to port Rockbox to the Motorola ColdFire-powered devices manufactured by [[iRiver]], focusing on the H1xx series of hard drive players (H110/H120/H140). In November of 2005, that effort was expanded to include the H3xx series of hard drive player, which is similar to the H1xx except for the addition of a color screen, USB host capability and the removal of the H1xx digital optical in/out jacks. These devices perform audio decoding in software, allowing Rockbox to potentially support many more audio codecs than the original firmware as well as bringing the extensibility and increased functionality already present in the Archos ports. Rockbox is run from the hard disk on these devices, after being started with a custom bootloader.

As of November of 2006, the iRiver port is in pre-release advanced testing. Most major functions are fully supported including [[gapless|gapless playback]], [[ReplayGain]], "on the fly" (OTF) playlists, FM radio, remote control, custom UI themes and [[WAV]] recording (including FM recording). Supported playback codecs include: MPEG audio ([[MP3]]/[[MP2]]), [[Ogg Vorbis]], [[Musepack]], [[AC3]], [[AAC]] (experimental, not yet real-time), [[FLAC]], [[Shorten]], [[Apple Lossless]], [[WavPack]] and uncompressed WAV audio. Plugins include a colour [[JPEG]] viewer, the Rockboy Game Boy emulator (not yet real-time) and a number of games.

===iFP-xxx===
A port to the iFP-xxx flash-based devices (starting with the iFP-790) is underway. When completed it will be the first pure flash device to be supported by Rockbox. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

===H10===
An active Rockbox port is underway for the [[IRiver_H-Series|iRiver H10]]. As of November 2006, a pre-release version of Rockbox is available for both the 5/6GB and 20GB versions of the H10, although some features, such as recording, have not yet been implemented.

==iAudio devices==
A port to the [[iAudio]] X5 hard drive player (also powered by the Motorola ColdFire chip) is underway. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

==Apple devices==

In November 2005, work began on a port of Rockbox to Apple iPod portable players. As of November 2006, support is available for iPod mini (first and second generation), color/Photo, 4g Greyscale, and nano (1st generation only), and first generation 5g (video). Rockbox is not yet available for the second generation Nano or the second-generation Video (sometimes referred to as the "5.5g"), although some users have been able to get Rockbox running on the 30GB version of the 5.5g.

==Neuros III devices==
Joe Born the leader developer of the Neuros open-source project for a time showed consideration towards allowing Rockbox firmware to be used in a future release of the [http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Neuros_III_development Neuros III], whether or not it will be possible to run the Rockbox firmware under or within DM320 platform is still up for debate between both groups of developers. The Neuros III is designated to run on Linux kernel currently.

==External links==
* [http://www.rockbox.org/ The Rockbox Project]

''~ Text taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbox Wikipedia entry for Rockbox]''

[[Category:Firmware]]

Rockbox

2006-11-16T15:31:20Z

Febs: /* H10 */

{{featured}}
[[Image:Rockboxlogo.png|right]]

'''Rockbox''' is a [[GPL]]-compliant [[open source]] operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2002 and was first implemented on the [[Archos]] Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.

Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.

Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.

==Archos devices==

Rockbox was first designed for the Archos series of [[MP3]] players and player/recorders. These devices have relatively weak main CPUs and instead offload music playback to dedicated hardware MP3 decoding chips. Rockbox, therefore, was unable to significantly alter playback capabilities. Instead, it offered a greatly improved user interface and added plugin functionality not present in the factory firmware.

Rockbox is capable of being permanently flashed into flash memory on the Archos devices, making it a literal firmware replacement.

==iRiver devices==

===H1xx/H3xx===
Beginning in late 2004, an effort began to port Rockbox to the Motorola ColdFire-powered devices manufactured by [[iRiver]], focusing on the H1xx series of hard drive players (H110/H120/H140). In November of 2005, that effort was expanded to include the H3xx series of hard drive player, which is similar to the H1xx except for the addition of a color screen, USB host capability and the removal of the H1xx digital optical in/out jacks. These devices perform audio decoding in software, allowing Rockbox to potentially support many more audio codecs than the original firmware as well as bringing the extensibility and increased functionality already present in the Archos ports. Rockbox is run from the hard disk on these devices, after being started with a custom bootloader.

As of November of 2006, the iRiver port is in pre-release advanced testing. Most major functions are fully supported including [[gapless|gapless playback]], [[ReplayGain]], "on the fly" (OTF) playlists, FM radio, remote control, custom UI themes and [[WAV]] recording (including FM recording). Supported playback codecs include: MPEG audio ([[MP3]]/[[MP2]]), [[Ogg Vorbis]], [[Musepack]], [[AC3]], [[AAC]] (experimental, not yet real-time), [[FLAC]], [[Shorten]], [[Apple Lossless]], [[WavPack]] and uncompressed WAV audio. Plugins include a colour [[JPEG]] viewer, the Rockboy Game Boy emulator (not yet real-time) and a number of games.

===iFP-xxx===
A port to the iFP-xxx flash-based devices (starting with the iFP-790) is underway. When completed it will be the first pure flash device to be supported by Rockbox. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

===H10===
An active Rockbox port is underway for the [[IRiver_H-Series|iRiver H10]]. As of November 2006, a pre-release version of Rockbox is available for both the 5/6GB and 20GB versions of the H10, although some features, such as recording, have not yet been implemented.

==iAudio devices==
A port to the [[iAudio]] X5 hard drive player (also powered by the Motorola ColdFire chip) is underway. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

==Apple devices==

In November 2005, work began on a port of Rockbox to Apple iPod portable players. As of January 2006, support is available for the the iPod photo and nano with work to support greyscale models (e.g. iPod mini) currently underway.

==Neuros III devices==
Joe Born the leader developer of the Neuros open-source project for a time showed consideration towards allowing Rockbox firmware to be used in a future release of the [http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Neuros_III_development Neuros III], whether or not it will be possible to run the Rockbox firmware under or within DM320 platform is still up for debate between both groups of developers. The Neuros III is designated to run on Linux kernel currently.

==External links==
* [http://www.rockbox.org/ The Rockbox Project]

''~ Text taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbox Wikipedia entry for Rockbox]''

[[Category:Firmware]]

Rockbox

2006-11-16T15:29:16Z

Febs: /* H1xx/H3xx */

{{featured}}
[[Image:Rockboxlogo.png|right]]

'''Rockbox''' is a [[GPL]]-compliant [[open source]] operating system for portable digital audio players (DAPs). The Rockbox Project began in 2002 and was first implemented on the [[Archos]] Studio DAP because of owner frustration with severe limitations in the manufacturer-supplied user interface and device operations.

Rockbox can completely replace the host device's operating system firmware and has matured to become an extensible, flexible platform that provides a plug-in architecture for adding PDA functionality, applications, utilities, and games, and has also managed to retrofit video playback functionality onto DAPs first released in mid-2000. Recently, Rockbox now includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by blind and visually impaired users.

Although Rockbox's official title is "Rockbox: Open Source Jukebox Firmware", in many instances it is not actually installed to (or run from) flash memory. Instead a minimal bootloader is installed in the supported device's flash which is capable of either loading Rockbox from the hard disk or, alternately, the original factory firmware.

==Archos devices==

Rockbox was first designed for the Archos series of [[MP3]] players and player/recorders. These devices have relatively weak main CPUs and instead offload music playback to dedicated hardware MP3 decoding chips. Rockbox, therefore, was unable to significantly alter playback capabilities. Instead, it offered a greatly improved user interface and added plugin functionality not present in the factory firmware.

Rockbox is capable of being permanently flashed into flash memory on the Archos devices, making it a literal firmware replacement.

==iRiver devices==

===H1xx/H3xx===
Beginning in late 2004, an effort began to port Rockbox to the Motorola ColdFire-powered devices manufactured by [[iRiver]], focusing on the H1xx series of hard drive players (H110/H120/H140). In November of 2005, that effort was expanded to include the H3xx series of hard drive player, which is similar to the H1xx except for the addition of a color screen, USB host capability and the removal of the H1xx digital optical in/out jacks. These devices perform audio decoding in software, allowing Rockbox to potentially support many more audio codecs than the original firmware as well as bringing the extensibility and increased functionality already present in the Archos ports. Rockbox is run from the hard disk on these devices, after being started with a custom bootloader.

As of November of 2006, the iRiver port is in pre-release advanced testing. Most major functions are fully supported including [[gapless|gapless playback]], [[ReplayGain]], "on the fly" (OTF) playlists, FM radio, remote control, custom UI themes and [[WAV]] recording (including FM recording). Supported playback codecs include: MPEG audio ([[MP3]]/[[MP2]]), [[Ogg Vorbis]], [[Musepack]], [[AC3]], [[AAC]] (experimental, not yet real-time), [[FLAC]], [[Shorten]], [[Apple Lossless]], [[WavPack]] and uncompressed WAV audio. Plugins include a colour [[JPEG]] viewer, the Rockboy Game Boy emulator (not yet real-time) and a number of games.

===iFP-xxx===
A port to the iFP-xxx flash-based devices (starting with the iFP-790) is underway. When completed it will be the first pure flash device to be supported by Rockbox. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

===H10===
It has been recently discovered that the [[IRiver_H-Series|iRiver H10]] uses the same main CPU as the iPod, meaning that it may be possible to port Rockbox using much of the code developed for the iPod port. It is not yet known whether an H10 port will ever officially be started.

==iAudio devices==
A port to the [[iAudio]] X5 hard drive player (also powered by the Motorola ColdFire chip) is underway. The port is currently suitable for developers only.

==Apple devices==

In November 2005, work began on a port of Rockbox to Apple iPod portable players. As of January 2006, support is available for the the iPod photo and nano with work to support greyscale models (e.g. iPod mini) currently underway.

==Neuros III devices==
Joe Born the leader developer of the Neuros open-source project for a time showed consideration towards allowing Rockbox firmware to be used in a future release of the [http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Neuros_III_development Neuros III], whether or not it will be possible to run the Rockbox firmware under or within DM320 platform is still up for debate between both groups of developers. The Neuros III is designated to run on Linux kernel currently.

==External links==
* [http://www.rockbox.org/ The Rockbox Project]

''~ Text taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbox Wikipedia entry for Rockbox]''

[[Category:Firmware]]

CDex

2005-09-03T02:27:36Z

Febs:

=Additional Reading=

* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ CDex homepage]
* [[EAC_Vs_CDex_SecureMode | CDex full paranoia versus EAC secure mode]] (by Pio2001)
* [http://home.iprimus.com.au/alexanderino/cdex/ Jason Antony's CDEX Guide For Beginners]

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:40:59Z

Febs: /* H100-series */

The '''H-series''' is a series of portable harddisk based audio player created by iRiver.

= IRiver H-Series overview =
== Common features ==

These features are common for all players in the H-series.

* Supports playback of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[ASF]], and [[WAV]]
* USB 2.0
* FM Radio
* Microphone/dictaphone
* Real-time encoding to MP3
* H100 and H300 series support [[Ogg Vorbis]]

== H100-series ==

The H100-series consist of the H110, H120 and H140, with capacities of 10GB, 20GB and 40GB respectively.

* Digital optical-in/out
* Microphone/line-in recording in .wav or [[MP3]] format

With the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware], the H100 series also has the following features:
* [[FLAC]] and [[WavPack]] support
* True gapless playback
* Crossfade
* On-the-fly playlist
* Speech menus and directories (Talkbox) for visually impaired users

== H300-series ==
The H300 series includes the H320 and the H340, which are 20GB and 40GB, respectively. The H300 series is available in a North American version and an international version, with some slight differences noted below.

* 2" Color TFT screen
* FM Recording
* USB On The Go (international models only)
* DRM capability (North American models only)
* Video playback supported at 10 FPS (international models only. North American models can be modified to support video playback by upgrading to international firmware 1.25 or higher; however, installation of international firmware will permanently disable DRM support)

== H10 Series ==
* Available in 5GB, 6GB and 20GB models
* Play for sure compatible
* Color screen

== External links ==

[http://www.iriver.com iRiver: Homepage]

[http://www.iriver.us/ Mistic River - Site for iriver enthusiasts]

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:37:03Z

Febs: /* H100-series */

The '''H-series''' is a series of portable harddisk based audio player created by iRiver.

= IRiver H-Series overview =
== Common features ==

These features are common for all players in the H-series.

* Supports playback of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[ASF]], and [[WAV]]
* USB 2.0
* FM Radio
* Microphone/dictaphone
* Real-time encoding to MP3
* H100 and H300 series support [[Ogg Vorbis]]

== H100-series ==

The H100-series consist of the H110, H120 and H140, with capacities of 10GB, 20GB and 40GB respectively.

* Digital optical-in/out

With the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware], the H100 series also has the following features:
* [[FLAC]] and [[WavPack]] support
* True gapless playback
* Crossfade
* On-the-fly playlist
* Speech menus and directories (Talkbox) for visually impaired users

== H300-series ==
The H300 series includes the H320 and the H340, which are 20GB and 40GB, respectively. The H300 series is available in a North American version and an international version, with some slight differences noted below.

* 2" Color TFT screen
* FM Recording
* USB On The Go (international models only)
* DRM capability (North American models only)
* Video playback supported at 10 FPS (international models only. North American models can be modified to support video playback by upgrading to international firmware 1.25 or higher; however, installation of international firmware will permanently disable DRM support)

== H10 Series ==
* Available in 5GB, 6GB and 20GB models
* Play for sure compatible
* Color screen

== External links ==

[http://www.iriver.com iRiver: Homepage]

[http://www.iriver.us/ Mistic River - Site for iriver enthusiasts]

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:35:22Z

Febs: /* H100-series */

The '''H-series''' is a series of portable harddisk based audio player created by iRiver.

= IRiver H-Series overview =
== Common features ==

These features are common for all players in the H-series.

* Supports playback of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[ASF]], and [[WAV]]
* USB 2.0
* FM Radio
* Microphone/dictaphone
* Real-time encoding to MP3
* H100 and H300 series support [[Ogg Vorbis]]

== H100-series ==

The H100-series consist of the H110, H120 and H140, with capacities of 10GB, 20GB and 40GB respectively.

* Digital optical-in/out

With the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware], the H100 series also has the following features:
* [[FLAC]] and [[WavPack]] support
* True gapless playback
* Crossfade
* On-the-fly playlist

== H300-series ==
The H300 series includes the H320 and the H340, which are 20GB and 40GB, respectively. The H300 series is available in a North American version and an international version, with some slight differences noted below.

* 2" Color TFT screen
* FM Recording
* USB On The Go (international models only)
* DRM capability (North American models only)
* Video playback supported at 10 FPS (international models only. North American models can be modified to support video playback by upgrading to international firmware 1.25 or higher; however, installation of international firmware will permanently disable DRM support)

== H10 Series ==
* Available in 5GB, 6GB and 20GB models
* Play for sure compatible
* Color screen

== External links ==

[http://www.iriver.com iRiver: Homepage]

[http://www.iriver.us/ Mistic River - Site for iriver enthusiasts]

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:33:15Z

Febs: /* H300-series */

The '''H-series''' is a series of portable harddisk based audio player created by iRiver.

= IRiver H-Series overview =
== Common features ==

These features are common for all players in the H-series.

* Supports playback of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[ASF]], and [[WAV]]
* USB 2.0
* FM Radio
* Microphone/dictaphone
* Real-time encoding to MP3
* H100 and H300 series support [[Ogg Vorbis]]

== H100-series ==

The H100-series consist of the H110, H120 and H140, with capacities of 10GB, 20GB and 40GB respectively.

* Digital optical-in/out

== H300-series ==
The H300 series includes the H320 and the H340, which are 20GB and 40GB, respectively. The H300 series is available in a North American version and an international version, with some slight differences noted below.

* 2" Color TFT screen
* FM Recording
* USB On The Go (international models only)
* DRM capability (North American models only)
* Video playback supported at 10 FPS (international models only. North American models can be modified to support video playback by upgrading to international firmware 1.25 or higher; however, installation of international firmware will permanently disable DRM support)

== H10 Series ==
* Available in 5GB, 6GB and 20GB models
* Play for sure compatible
* Color screen

== External links ==

[http://www.iriver.com iRiver: Homepage]

[http://www.iriver.us/ Mistic River - Site for iriver enthusiasts]

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:31:07Z

Febs: /* Common features */

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:30:04Z

Febs: /* IRiver H-Series overview */

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:29:14Z

Febs: /* External links */

IRiver H-Series

2005-08-22T22:28:12Z

Febs: /* H300-series */

Free Lossless Audio Codec

2005-08-22T20:40:41Z

Febs: /* Portable */

=What is FLAC?=

Grossly oversimplified, FLAC is similar to [[MP3]], but [[lossless]], meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. "Free" means "Free" - that the specification of the stream format is in the public domain. It also means that the sources for libFLAC and libFLAC++ are available under the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)

FLAC compiles on many platforms.

Some claim FLAC is the most widely used lossless compression format on UNIX systems (though it seems more likely that shn retains that honor on all OS platforms).

FLAC files can be placed inside an Ogg container using libOggFLAC and libOggFLAC++.

==Pros==
* Portable to many systems
* Source open and freely licenced
* Hardware support (PhatBox, Kenwood MusicKeg, Rio Karma, etc. See below)
* Streaming support
* Extremely fast decoding
* Supports multichannel and high resolution streams
* Supports [[ReplayGain]]
* Supports cue-sheet (with some limitations)
* Gaining wide use as successor to [[Shorten]]

==Cons==
* Compresses less efficiently than other popular modern compressors ([[Monkey's Audio]], [[OptimFROG]])
* Higher compression modes slow, for little gain over the default setting.

=Players that support FLAC=
For a more complete list see the [http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html FLAC links page].
==Hardware==
===Home stereo===
* [http://www.request.com/us/ AudioReQuest] music servers
* Digital Techniques' "iStereo" [http://www.digitaltechniques.com/M300A_Overview.html M300A Digital Music Player]
* Escient's [http://www.escient.com/ FireBall servers (E2-40/160/300, DVDM-300)]
* [http://www.hermstedt.com/english/hifidelio/hifidelio.html Hifidelio]
* Meda Systems' [http://www.medainc.com/ Bravo servers]
* The [http://www.cesweb.org/attendees/show_floor/product_locator/product_details.asp?prodid=5181 MS300 Music Server] by McIntosh Laboratory
* Olive's [http://www.olive.us/ Symphony] wireless digital music center
* [http://www.phatnoise.com/products/homeplayer/index.php PhatNoise Home Digital Media Player]
* [http://www.mock.com/receiver/ Rio Reciever] and Dell Digital Audio Receiver
* [http://www.rokulabs.com/products/photobridge/features.php Roku PhotoBridge HD] (with [http://homepage.ntlworld.ie/p.mc.quillan/FLAC_V0.7.zip plugin])
* [http://www.skipjam.com/ SkipJam]'s networked audio/video devices
* [http://www.sonos.com/ Sonos Digital Music System]
* [http://www.slimdevices.com/ Squeezebox2]
* [http://www.z500series.com/ Zensonic Z500 Networked DVD Media Player]

===Car stereo===
* [http://www.phatnoise.com/products/digitalmediaplayers/kenwood_music_keg.php Kenwood Music Keg]
* [http://www.phatnoise.com/products/digitalmediaplayers/index.php PhatBox]

===Portable===
* [[Rio Karma]]
* [[iAudio M3]] and X5
* iRiver iHP-120/iHP-140 with the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware]

==Software==

===Players===
* [http://koti.welho.com/hylinen/apollo/ Apollo]
* [[foobar2000]]
* [[JRiver Media Center]]
* [http://fondriest.frederic.free.fr/realisations/lamip/ LAMIP]
* [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ MPlayer]
* [http://www.mythtv.org/ MythTV]
* [http://www.quinnware.com/ QCD] ([http://www.quinnware.com/list_plugins.php?type=input plugin])
* [http://www.videolan.org/ VLC]
* [http://www.vuplayer.com/vuplayer.htm VUPlayer]
* [[Winamp]]
* [[Windows Media Player]] and other directshow-based players (MPC, TCMP, RadLight) (with [http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/ Illiminable's directshow filters] or [http://corecodec.org/projects/coreflac CoreFLAC])
* [http://xine.sourceforge.net/ Xine]
* [[XMMS]]
* [http://www.un4seen.com/ XMplay]

===Frontends (Windows) ===
* [http://www.uninformative.com/flacattack/ Flacattack]
* Custom [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/flac.htm Windows Frontend] (by Speek)
* [http://www.unifront.boereck.de/ UniversalFront] by Böreck
* [http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/ Frontah] by Madah
* [http://mareo.monkeydev.org/ Mareo] by Kwambis

===Frontends (Mac) ===
* [http://www.danrules.com/macflac/ MacFLAC]
* [http://members.rogers.com/beamsplitter/ RipBeak]
* [http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21952 xACT]

===Converters===
* [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer
* [http://www.germanixsoft.de/ GX:Transcoder] Music converter

===Editors===
* [[Adobe Audition]]

===CD writers/rippers===
* [http://www.ahead.de Ahead Nero Burning Rom]
* [http://arson.sourceforge.net/ Arson]
* [http://www.burnatonce.com/ burnatonce]
* [http://www.burrrn.net Burrrn] Audio CD burner
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net CDex] CD ripper
* [http://www.cdwave.com/ CD Wave]

===Taggers===
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Mp3tag] Universal Tag Editor
* [http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/ The GodFather] Tagger / Music manager
* [http://www.saunalahti.fi/cse/files/Tag.zip Case's Tag] command line tagger

===Other tools===
* [http://www.burrrn.net/mrq/ Mr. QuestionMan]
* [http://www.bitattack.ro/ai/ Audio Identifier]
* [http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ mkvtoolnix] - tool to multiplex FLAC streams inside the Matroska container

...and many more; see the [http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html#software FLAC software section] and [http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html#extras download section] for a more comprehensive list.

=Frequently Asked Questions=

''Question:'' Does the compression level affect decompression speed?

''Short Answer'': No.

''Long Answer'': In truth, the compression level does affect the decompression speed, but the difference between the various compress levels can barely be measured and is too small to be noticed, even on low-end machines.

''Question:'' What is the best compression level for encoding my music?

''Short Answer'': The default setting, 5.

''Long Answer'': Encoding at the default setting will give the best balance between compression and encoding speed. Encoding at 8 can more than quadruple the encoding time, while having an insignificant effect on compression.

See also: [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html FLAC FAQ]

=Addtional Reading=
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net FLAC Project Webpage]
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html Download]
* [http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=261 Rio Karma]
* [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's Comparison of lossless audio compressors]
* [[Lossless comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim
* [http://people.ucsc.edu/~rswilson/flactest Omion's FLAC "File Size vs. Decoding Speed" test] - a very thorough test on [[FLAC#Frequently_Asked_Questions|the influence of the chosen encoding level on the decoding speed of FLAC]]; the only one so far to have covered FLAC's --super-secret-totally-impractical-compression-level to this extent as well.

WavPack

2005-08-22T20:32:28Z

Febs: /* Hardware Support */

'''WavPack''' is a free, open source [[lossless]] audio compression format developed by David Bryant.

==Description==

WavPack allows users to compress (and restore) both all [[PCM]] audio formats including 8, 16, and 24-bit ints; 32-bit floats; [[mono]], [[stereo]], and [[multichannel]]; [[sampling rate]]s from 6 to 192 kHz. Like other lossless compression schemes the data reduction varies with the source, but it is generally between 25% and 50% for typical popular music and somewhat better than that for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic range.

WavPack also incorporates a unique "hybrid" mode that provides all the advantages of lossless compression with an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file) provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having to choose between lossless and lossy compression!

==Feature Summary==

* Fast and efficient encoding and decoding
* [[Open source]], released under a BSDish license
* Multiplatform
* Hardware support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

==History==

David Bryant started development on WavPack in mid-1998, with the release of version 1.0. This first version compressed and decompressed audio losslessly, nothing else, but by then it already featured one of the best efficiency vs. speed ratio among lossless encoders.

Very soon after the release of version 1.0, Bryant released v. 2.0, which featured lossy encoding (using only quantization for data reduction - no psychoacoustic process was applied to the stream).

In 1999, the developer released version 3.0, which featured novelties such as a fast mode (with reduced compression ratio), compression of RAW files and error detection using CRC checksums.

WavPack development is still going on, and a major feature added in late 3.x versions is the hybrid mode, where the encoder generates a lossy file + a correction file, so that both can be decompressed back to the original PCM stream.

WavPack 4 has been recently released. It included important changes, such as fast seeking, multichannel support, high resolution audio support, etc. turning it into one of the most full featured and modern lossless audio compressors.

==Software support==

===Players===
* NullSoft [[Winamp]] (plugin w/ ReplayGain & Media Library support) and Winamp-compatible players
* [[foobar2000]] Advanced Audio Player (official encoding/decoding addon, w/ ReplayGain & Cuesheets support)
* [http://www.vuplayer.com/vuplayer.htm VUPlayer] (official plugin, supports encoding)
* [[Windows Media Player]] and other directshow-based players (MPC, TCMP, RadLight) (with [http://corewavpack.corecodec.org/ CoreWavPack] directshow filter)
* [http://koti.welho.com/hylinen/apollo/ Apollo] Audio Player (plugin w/ ReplayGain support)
* [http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html XMplay] (official plugin)
* [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ Cog] Audio player for MacOS X.
* [[XMMS]] (with Kuniklo's plugin)
* [http://fondriest.frederic.free.fr/realisations/lamip/ LAMIP] (official plugin)
* [http://mpxplay.net/ MPXplay] for DOS!

===Frontends===
* Custom [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/wavpack.htm Windows Frontend] (by Speek)
* [http://www.unifront.boereck.de/ UniversalFront] by Böreck
* [http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/ Frontah] by Madah
* [http://mareo.monkeydev.org/ Mareo] by Kwambis

===Converters===
'''Note:''' ''Several players, like foobar2000 and VUplayer, can also convert from other formats to WavPack)''
* [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer (official addon)
* [http://www.board-24.de/ GX:Transcoder] Music converter

===Editors===
* [[Adobe Audition]] and Cool Edit (filter w/ 32-bit floats & extra info save support)

===CD writers/rippers===
* [http://www.ahead.de Ahead Nero Burning Rom]
* [http://www.burrrn.net Burrrn] Audio CD burner
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net CDex] CD ripper

===Taggers===
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Mp3tag] Universal Tag Editor
* [http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/ The GodFather] Tagger / Music manager
* [http://www.saunalahti.fi/cse/files/Tag.zip Case's Tag] command line tagger

===Other tools===
* [http://www.burrrn.net/mrq/ Mr. QuestionMan]
* [http://www.bitattack.ro/ai/ Audio Identifier]
* [http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ mkvtoolnix] - tool to multiplex WavPack streams inside the Matroska container
It's worth mentioning the [[Matroska]] guys decided to concentrate on WavPack as the
lossless compressor of choice for their container. Quite an honor... :-)

==Hardware Support==

* iRiver iHP-120/iHP-140 with the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware]
* [http://www.rokulabs.com/products/photobridge/features.php Roku PhotoBridge HD] (w/ [http://www.wavpack.com/downloads.html plugin])

==Technology description==

To ensure high-speed operation, WavPack uses a very simple predictor that is implemented entirely in integer math. In its "fast" mode the prediction is simply the arithmetic extrapolation of the previous two samples. For example, if the previous two samples were -10 and 20, then the prediction would be 50. For the default mode a simple adaptive factor is added to weigh the influence of the earlier sample on the prediction. In our example the resulting prediction could then vary between 20 for no influence to 50 for full influence. This weight factor is constantly updated based on the audio data's changing spectral characteristics, which is why it is called "adaptive".

The prediction generated is then subtracted from the actual sample to be encoded to generate the error value. In mono mode this value is sent directly to the coder. However, stereo signals tend to have some correlation between the two channels that can be further exploited. Therefore, two error values are calculated that represent the difference and average of the left and right error values. In the "fast" mode of operation these two new values are simply sent to the coder instead of the left and right values. In the default mode, the difference value is always sent to the coder along with one of the other three values (average, left, or right). An adaptive algorithm continuously determines the most efficient of the three to send based on the changing balance of the channels.

The developer has developed a unique data encoder for WavPack that he believes is better than Rice coding in two different areas. It is impossible to encode more efficiently than Rice coding because it represents the optimal bit coding (sometimes known as the Huffman code) for this type of data. WavPack's encoder is slightly less efficient than this, but only by about 0.15 bits/sample (or less than 1% for 16-bit data). The first advantage of WavPack's coder is that it does not require the data to be buffered ahead of encoding, instead it converts each sample directly to bitcodes. This is more computationally efficient and it is better in some applications where coding delay is critical. The second advantage is that it is easily adaptable to lossy encoding because all significant bits (except the implied "one" MSB) are transmitted directly. In this way it is possible to only transmit, for example, the 3 most significant bits (with sign) of each sample. In fact, it is possible to transmit only the sign and implied MSB for each sample with an average of only 3.65 bits/sample.

This coding scheme is used to implement the "lossy" mode of WavPack. In the "fast" mode the output of the non-adaptive decorrelator is simply rounded to the nearest codable value for the specified number of bits. In the default mode the adaptive decorrelator is used (which reduces the average noise about 1 dB) and also both the current and the next sample are considered in choosing the better of the two available codes (which reduces noise another 1 dB).

The developer has decided to not use any floating-point arithmetic in WavPack's data path because he believes that integer operations are less susceptible to subtle chip to chip variations that could corrupt the lossless nature of the compression, the Pentium floating point bug being a blatant example of this. It is possible that a lossless compressor that used floating-point math could generate different output when running on that faulty Pentium. Even disregarding actual bugs, floating-point math is complicated enough that there could be subtle differences between "correct" implementations that could cause trouble for this type of application. To further ensure confidence in the integrity of WavPack's compression, the encoder includes a 32-bit error detection code to the generated streams.

WavPack source code is very portable. It has been compiled on several Unices (Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Compaq Tru64, HP-UX...) as well as Windows and DOS. It works on architectures such as x86, ARM, PowerPC, SPARC, DEC Alpha, PA-RISC, MIPS, Motorola 68k...

==Further reading==

* [http://www.wavpack.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.rarewares.org/lossless.html Unofficial multiplatform versions] at RareWares
* [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavpack.html Historical versions] at ReallyRareWares
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim
* [[EAC_and_WavPack | Configuring EAC and Wavpack]]